Bye bye Maryland

Monday

Nov 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 19, 2012 at 2:19 PM

Breakups of long relationships should be the toughest.

Tell that to the University of Maryland.

On Monday Maryland, one of the charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, decided to pay its $50 million exit fee and move out of its longtime home in ACC country and take up residence in the venerable Big Ten conference, whose teams now — ironically — number 14. It did so with little public discussion and absolutely no remorse.

Such is the way in the new shifting landscape of collegiate athletics.

If all things go according to plan, College Park, Md. will cease to be a regular stop by the University of North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke and Wake Forest in 2014 for the first time since 1953 when the ACC was formed. Football and particularly basketball rivalries forged since that time will fall by the wayside. Over the past 59 years, Maryland has been a colorful and competitive member of the conference, often to its displeasure. Maryland’s fans, coaches and administrators often chafed under the idea that schools in the Tar Heel state along so-called Tobacco Road had too much say-so over league business.

Those long-standing grievances aside, this was a move made for financial reasons. The Big Ten TV contract is far more lucrative than that of the ACC — $24.6 mil per school, according to the Associated Press. Maryland this year cut seven sports programs because of budget concerns.

As ACC fans, we’ll miss the Terps. They fielded competitive teams and have loyal and boisterous supporters.